This is the definitive book on the City of David—the oldest part of Jerusalem—by the current excavator of the site. It will be read, enjoyed and studied now and a hundred years from now. It is, in fact, more than one book: It is a fascinating account of the history of the site’s excavation—by scholars and charlatans; by the British, French and Israelis; by a Catholic priest and by Jews; by the competent and by amateurs.

Biblical Lachish was one of the most important cities in the Land of Israel for more than three thousand years. In the second millennium B.C.E. Lachish was a large Canaanite city-state, and during the period of the Judean kingdom, a mighty fortress city. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, conquered it in the course of a fierce battle in 701 B.C.E. That conquest was immortalized in a series of reliefs erected in Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh in Assyria.

In this charming, informative and scholarly—yet understandable—book, Hebrew University archaeologist Eilat Mazar, who previously uncovered what may be King David’s palace, continues the excavations of her famous grandfather, Professor Benjamin Mazar, at the southern wall of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Combining youthful memories of her grandfather with her own most recent excavations, she explores the southern gate of biblical Jerusalem and discovers the city wall built by King Solomon. A must for anyone truly interested in Biblical archaeology.